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Micah Parsons Wants Tony Pollard Back With Cowboys Next Season

The 24-year-old pass rusher spoke highly of his teammate, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March.

By Jovan Alford

Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard (20) finds a hole at the line of scrimmage.
Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard (20) finds a hole at the line of scrimmage. / Jamie Germano/Rochester Democrat and
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There’s been a lot of discussion over the last few weeks about where the Dallas Cowboys go next this offseason after another disappointing playoff exit.

Cowboys' star linebacker Micah Parsons has provided his thoughts on his podcast about how the season ended, which caught the attention of fans. The 24-year-old pass rusher went on The Stephen A. Show this week, where he talked about multiple topics, including running back Tony Pollard, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent in March.

Parsons spoke highly of the starting running back, who became the lead back in Dallas this season after the team did not re-sign Ezekiel Elliott last offseason. He also said that Pollard is an every-down back and started to catch his rhythm towards the end of the season.

“I would say toward the end of the season Tony Pollard was catching his rhythm again," Parsons said (h/t Bobby Kownack of NFL.com). "I do think he's an every-down guy. You've got to think, he broke his fibula, tibia, something, that's a catastrophic injury. You're talking about a guy that's really been off from that January, came back Week 1 but he didn't really do a lot.” 

“It takes a while to get back into football. He didn't do OTAs. He didn't do minicamp,” Parsons added. “He kind of did camp a little bit like working through it, getting back into it. You saw him increase, like he even said, 'I'm just now getting back to myself.' I would give Tony Pollard another shot."

Parsons makes a strong case for the Cowboys to re-sign the 26-year-old running back, who had his second-straight 1,000-yard rushing season (1,005) on a career-high 252 carries. Pollard only had one 100-yard rushing game and averaged a career-worst 4.0 yards per carry.

However, there’s something to be said for Pollard taking on a huge workload despite coming off a catastrophic injury earlier in 2023. The former fourth-round pick’s calculated market value is a two-year, $13.5 million deal, which is perfect for the Cowboys. But one does wonder if the team will kick the tires on Derrick Henry, who has proven to be a workhorse running back over his career.

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